First published by RNZ
Te Kahukura Boynton is on a mission to change what she sees as a “scarcity mindset” when it comes to financial literacy.
Boynton (Ngāti Kahungunu, Ngāi Tuhoe, Te Whakatōhea) is the 20-year-old director and founder of Māori Millionaire, a podcast and platform with over 30,000 followers - dedicated to educating others, particularly rangatahi Māori, on financial literacy.
The platform also documents Boynton’s own progress towards her goal of becoming a millionaire by the time she is 25.
Her work to create change for under privileged communities and reducing the wealth gap has seen her recognised in this year’s Y25 list - a programme acknowledging New Zealand’s trailblazers and changemakers.
Colonisation and its impact on Indigenous communities had resulted scarcity mindset when it came to money, she told RNZ’s Nine to Noon.
“And what I’ve learned about scarcity mindset through my own experiences is that when you don’t believe that you have the capabilities of having more money, of owning more money, then you’re going to directly have actions that will cause that to continue to happen.
“And so, one of the important things is learning how to believe that you live in abundance, even if your resources and the situation you’re in does not actually say that. And so you’ve got to believe it before you see it.”
Saving for an emergency fund was an example, she said.
“That’s really difficult for a lot of people, but if you truly believe that you’re going to be able to do it, you’re going to take steps consistently to do that.
“And there will be hard times there where maybe you’re not able to contribute to it, but you’re going to stay consistent, and you’re going to keep on trying, and then eventually you’re going to achieve your goal.”
There could be a great deal of shame surrounding personal finance, she said.
“I think that we live in a system that wasn’t designed for us, and a lot of people say that the system fails us, but I think that the system is actually succeeding in what it’s intending to do.
“It’s intending to not support us to achieve what we want to achieve. And so, through my messaging, I’m able to just be a kind face and talk about these concepts in a simple way. I love sharing the mistakes I make, because that makes people, relate to me.”
Some of the questions she was asked were surprisingly simple, she said.
“One of the most viral videos I actually made about money was explaining the difference between an Eftpos card, a debit card and a credit card.
“And I was really overwhelmed by how many people actually didn’t know the differences between these.”
Explaining relatively simple concepts such as this was a niche she believed other financial advice commentators overlooked.
“There’s a lot of people in the finance space that are talking about really complicated financial concepts, but you know, who’s talking about the basic ones?”
Her best investment recently had been in her own health, she said.
“I’ve lost 50 kgs over the last year, and that is purely through realising that I am my best investment, and that if I do not look after myself, I cannot be here to serve anyone else.”
By RNZ